Hey Harv,
Great article. Zingerman’s is an Ann Arbor institution, one
of the first stops for any visitor to Ann Arbor. I went there many times during
my years in Ann Arbor. And yeah, their prices are high but their quality is
unparalleled and I feel good about giving my business to them (for many of the
reasons the article explores in some depth).
In fact, the fireman that fought for my wallet and was
instrumental in getting it back to me, I tracked down which fire house he works
at and I sent him a Zingerman’s gift basket. The wallet only had like $40 in
it, and the gift basket cost way more than that (like $70, with shipping), so
it was a net loss to me in terms of cash. But obviously, this was not about the
cash, but rather about a gesture to recognize an amazing act of selflessness in
a world filled with opportunistic thieves and people all too ready to make
advantage of other people’s misfortune.
I also thought about the values expressed by the founders of
Zingerman’s in this article, and their approach to growing their business
(rejecting the easy money of a cookie cutter franchise model, but staying true
to their core values, even if it meant the foregoing of the chance to “cash out”
for instant millions. The motivation to create something lasting and that has a
positive impact on its employees and its neighborhood, well that’s very
admirable and rare these days. Is the ultimate goal of business (or broadly, “work”
to make money? Or is it to build something like Zingerman’s? Something that
provides a sustainable and livable lives for its employees, creates a clearly superior
product than its competitors, and is something that one can be proud of at the
end of the day?
Awhile back, I sent you a Lifehacker post from the founder of
Treehouse, and his awesome work routine and his business. You wondered whether
that business will still be around in five years, with the dizzying change of
pace in technology, whereas you knew with certainty that your old world
business of owning investment real estate will most certainly still exist. I
thought that this was an interesting comment because it only mattered what your
ultimate goal of your work was. If your goal was to make a fortune, than the
founder of Treehouse couldn’t care whether it ceased to exist next year; he
will already have made millions, and will simply move onto the next startup.
But if the goal is to build something that is lasting, or maybe even more
ambitiously, that is lasting and also provides some “good” to its employees,
users, and its neighbors (in a broad sense, whomever it may be), than Jonestree
Properties may outperform Treehouse by those metrics.
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